Campaign Cash Snapshot: N.H.'s First Congressional District

The campaign in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District is among the most crowded and most buzzed-about midterm races in the country. With all that attention comes plenty of money, from both inside and outside the state.

(Scroll down for a detailed breakdown of the candidates’ fundraising totals so far.)

Newly transplanted Granite Stater Maura Sullivan, an Iraq War veteran and former Obama administration official, is rapidly outpacing the rest of the field in the fundraising arena. After jumping into the race in October, she managed to raise in ­­­a single quarter almost twice what any of her competitors have in total, even those who’ve been in the race since early last year.

More than three-quarters of Sullivan’s year-end haul came from outside New Hampshire. Her filings show $382,700 in itemized out-of-state contributions – including $131,250 from Massachusetts, $63,150 from New York and $59,450 from California – compared to just $16,898 from inside the state. (But Sullivan’s campaign told WMUR those numbers don’t tell the whole story, as they only reflect contributions of $200 or more, and most of her donations from New Hampshire were small-dollar amounts.)

When it comes to pulling in the largest sums of money from locals, Republican Eddie Edwards and Democratic Executive Councilor Chris Pappas are the leaders in their respective races. Edwards’ fundraising reports show about $161,545 in itemized in-state contributions, while Pappas’ fundraising report shows about $156,157.

Democrats Mindi Messmer and Terence O’Rourke appear to be the only candidates whose campaigns are funded entirely from individual donors. While they aren’t raking in anywhere near what their competitors are, neither report receiving any candidate loans or PAC money, at least so far.

Outside of these candidates, Democrat Deaglan McEachern and Republican Mark Hounsell also jumped into race in January but haven’t yet had to report any fundraising numbers. The next fundraising deadline is March 31, but campaign filings aren’t due to the FEC until April 15.

Related Content

For two decades, Peter Overby has examined lobbying, campaign finance, and recently, special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in our elections. Overby will also shed some light on the rise of so-called "dark" political money.

The New Hampshire Senate voted Thursday to keep campaign contributions flowing from LLCs, but moved to tighten restrictions on political advertising.

Senator Dan Feltes argued in vain Thursday in favor of his bill, which would have closed what he calls the Limited Liability Corporation loophole. The bill sought to prevent multiple LLCs with the same owner from collectively exceeding the individual campaign contribution limit.

The majority instead voted with Senator Andy Sanborn, who owns several LLCs himself.

Here's a twist in an election year in which the role of money is a dominant theme: A Super PAC created to blunt the influence of Super PACs in key political races is jumping into the Senate contest between Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Gov. Maggie Hassan.